In Motion the Future Is
by Cmdr's Monkey
Summary: Sent back sixty years in time by a freak hyperspace accident, Senator Amidala finds herself faced with a choice: to change the future or watch as two Jedi walk blindly to their destinies. Dooku, Padme, Qui-Gon, Yoda, OCs, Dooku/Padme UPDATE: Fixed Ch1 to be Ch1
1. Prologue

**Summary**: Sent back sixty years in time by a freak hyperspace accident, Senator Amidala finds herself faced with a choice: to change the future or watch as two Jedi walk blindly to their destinies.

**A/N**: This is a_ adaptation_ of **Cmdr. Gabe E**'s story "**What Time has Forgotten**". She never finished it and has not updated it since 2005. I liked the idea a lot and I blame **Jurious** and her fic "**Eclipse**" for the Dooku/Padme pairing. I felt the idea had merit and after much thinking and research, I have two chapters written thus far. It'll mostly be written from Dooku's point of view since I am most comfortable with his character, but Qui-Gon and Padme's will have their chapters where Dooku can't cover it.

Please excuse any continuity or fact errors that may crop up. It has been years since I have written for Star Wars and the memory is not as good as it use to be. I am researching and digging up my old books on the era as best I can. And time travel is a confusing conundrum to play with.

Anyway Dooku is 21 and Qui-Gon is 10. Padme, I think is 25 when she gets tossed back in time. If you want to know what Dooku might look like at a young age, just look up Christopher Lee on Google Images.

This will probably be the longest written story I've ever done and reviews and constructive criticism is much appreciated and nurses the ego...erm muses. :D

**In Motion the Future Is**

_WAR RAGES ACROSS THE GALAXY AS THE DROID FORCES OF THE SINISTER **COUNT DOOKU** PRESSES EVER FORWARD TOWARD THE SEPARATIST GOAL OF DEFEATING THE GALACTIC REPUBLIC. ALTHOUGH THE VALIANT JEDI KNIGHTS OF THE REPUBLIC ARE SPREAD THIN ON SEVERAL FRONTS AND ARE UNABLE TO ANSWER EVERY SEPARATIST PLOT, THERE ARE THOSE WHO DO RISE UP TO ACCEPT THE CHALLENGES OF THE WAR IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC._

_IN ANSWER TO SUCH A PLOT, **SUPREME CHANCELLOR PALPATINE** SENDS **SENATOR AMIDALA** ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO YAGA MINOR IN ORDER TO PREVENT THE SEPARATIST'S FROM GAINING CONTROL OF THE SYSTEM'S SHIPYARDS. EN ROUTE, A NEW SEPARATIST WARSHIP PULLS THE SENATOR'S STARSHIP OUT OF HYPERSPACE INTO THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE WITH REPUBLIC FORCES, BEFORE SHE CAN EVEN REACH YAGA MINOR. _

_DESPERATE TO FLEE FROM THE DROID SUBFIGHTERS AND UNABLE TO BOARD A REPUBLIC CRUISER, **AMIDALA** RISKS JUMPING INTO HYPERSPACE WHILE UNDER FIRE AND THE INFLUENCE OF AN ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY WELL. THE SENATOR'S SHIP TAKES A HIT TO THE HYPERDRIVE JUST AS THE VESSEL MAKES THE JUMP, HURTLING HER THROUGH HYPERSPACE AND INTO DARKNESS..._


	2. First Assignment

**Chapter One**

_First Assignment_

**46 BrS* – Jedi Temple, Coruscant**

The Jedi Temple on Coruscant could be described as magnificent and never failed to awe those who looked upon it for the first time or second. While the outside was spectacular in it's simplicity and grandeur architecture, it's interior could take the breath away of even the most critical of architectural critics. Carved into the walls and pillars of the Grand Hall, reliefs and tapestries retold the history of the Order to any who simply took the time to study them. Statues of past Jedi greeted visitors and watched in a silent vigil over their progeny as they walked the halls in a hurry or slowly in conversation with others, as if to tell those peaceful sages that they would always be with them to watch and guide them in life and death and in the Force.

One such progeny stood before a tall statue of a human male, cloaked in the traditional garbs of the ancient Jedi. His hood obscured most of his features as if they had been lost, but the young Jedi knew this ancient warrior had been old when the stone statue had been erected in his honor. If he wanted to see the man's face, all he had to simply do was walk to the Archives and look upon the bronzium bust that made up one of the Lost Twenty.

The Jedi Knight's dark eyes flickered to the bronzium plaque at the base of the statue and read the aurebesh engraved in the metal. It spoke of the ancient Jedi's rank and name, Jedi Master Mataeus Balle**, and gave a brief description of his greatest contribution to the Jedi Order, knowledge of the Force. However, unlike the other statues lining the Great Hall of the Temple, it did not state when the ancient master had died, it only gave his birth and service in the Order.

No one knew what had become of the Jedi Master after he had left the Order, only that he had left and decades later a war broke out between Jedi that lasted for a century.

The young Jedi sighed softly as he met the hidden gaze of the ancient master and wondered why the man had left the Order so long ago. His studies under Master Cerulian had him learn what had come from the Jedi's departure and studies in the Force, but not his fate. Though plenty of scholars centuries later believed he had started the war but there had been little evidence and mostly speculation surrounding the mystery of the Jedi Master. Still the man had done enough in the Order to deserve immortality in a statue and a bronzium bust.

He wondered if he would become a great Jedi like this man had, like any of the statues that lined the Great Hall even. He had his doubts and his experiences for the last twenty-one years of his life constantly questioned his worthiness despite his determination to prove it and the praise he had received from his masters. What bothered him so much to think that he could be anything less than worthy?

"Master Dooku?" a quiet voice called from behind him and the tall Jedi turned to face the interloper of his thoughts. A young boy of ten dressed in learner vestments and his brown hair cropped short with a Padawan braid hanging over his right shoulder, looked up at him curiously. He had almost forgotten that the boy had been with him when he had stopped to stare thoughtfully at the ancient statue. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Qui-Gon," he answered and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. This was his Padawan and one of the reasons why he was worthy. If Master Yoda had said no to his request that he and Qui-Gon Jinn be paired as Master and Padawan so soon after he himself had been Knighted, it would have been because his master did not believe him ready for such a responsibility. But Yoda had not said 'no', had approved of the match and wished them well.

It made the Jedi Knight proud to know that the Grand Master considered him ready for this, even six months later after the official bonding ceremony he still was. He would train Qui-Gon Jinn to become a Jedi Knight and his teachings would be passed on to the boy's own Padawan and elevate him to master when that boy passed his Trials. He knew he would not fail in this, the Force wanted them together for a reason and he would listen to it's whispers and teach Qui-Gon to do the same.

Now if only he could teach the boy to stop bringing home _pets._

"Come, we have a meeting with the Council." Dooku placed a guiding hand on his padawan's shoulder and headed for one of the turbolifts.

"We're leaving the Temple?" Qui-Gon sounded hopeful and his master found he felt the same way. Now that he was a Jedi Knight, he wanted to get out of the Temple and away from Coruscant as his young friend here. The place was too... stifling for his tastes and Coruscant was equally as stifling. Although there were trillions of people living on the city planet, the Living Force felt dulled, as if the cosmopolitan planet suffocated the Force here. Only in the Temple did the Force feel alive and it was not because of all the Jedi here.

Very few knew about the Force eddy that the Temple had been erected over. He only knew about it because of Master Yoda telling him in one of his lessons on the Force. In fact, he remembered asking his master why Coruscant felt so diluted in the Force and the Temple did not.

_'Strong here, the Force is,' Yoda had told him as they sat at the edge of a pond in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. 'Built atop a powerful current, the Temple was.'_

_'Why?' a younger Dooku had inquired. He watched the little master disturb the water with his gimmer stick before he answered the curious padawan._

_'On a world where the Force is nearly gone, so Jedi like you and I can hear.'_

Dooku remembered he had shuddered at the thought of coming across a planet full of life where the Force did not exist. It was unthinkable to even think that the Force could not exist anywhere in the universe. The Force was everything after all, even the very beginning of the universe and time itself.

"I believe we will. Probably just a minor dispute to test us," Dooku answered after a moment. He hoped it would be a little more than just a minor dispute. Although he had studied diplomacy and how the Senate functioned as a youth and even did a solo diplomatic mission prior to his Trials, he was confident that he could negotiate larger disagreements into a settlement that all parties could agree to.

"At least we get out." That was one of the things he liked about Qui-Gon. The boy was always optimistic about everything. If there was a negative to something, the young padawan would find the positive.

Dooku smiled as the pair stepped into a turbolift. He keyed the floor that would take them to the base of the five towers before replying, "Yes, at least we do."

The rest of the trip to the Reconciliation Council chamber was spent with Dooku trying to keep his padawan from becoming too overly excited about leaving the temple on his first mission, and he himself from being too hopeful that he would be given something he could prove his diplomacy skills with. He had to remember that he was just knighted not but six months ago and had taken on a padawan of his own almost immediately after. Odds were the Council was not going to give him something on the lines of negotiating a treaty between two warring star systems where the fate of the galaxy would rest on his success or not, no matter how much Dooku would love to be responsible for such a success.

_You'll get that chance one day,_ he told himself. _Just not today._

"The Council will see you now, Master Dooku," informed the aide standing inside the double doors that led into the inner sanctum of the Reconciliation Council chamber. He had to remember that this was not the High Council that guided the Jedi Order from the central spire. Unlike the High Council, the Reconciliation Council dealt with the day to day politics of the Galactic Senate and worked directly with the Supreme Chancellor in whatever diplomatic disputes or problems that arose within the Republic. Any problem with a higher cost at stake than the usual galactic politics went to the High Council to decide on.

Dooku gestured to his Padawan who had spent the wait time animatedly chatting with another Padawan that also had been waiting with her master to speak with the Council. The boy waved his goodbye and hurried to catch up with his tall master as he entered the chamber. Master and Padawan paid their respects to the assembled Council members with a graceful bow, the doors closing behind them and the aide standing off to the side to record the meeting.

"You requested our presence, masters?"

There were eight of the twelve masters physically present, two were there by hologram while the remaining two were absent entirely. It was not the first time Dooku had faced a Council with some of the members absent. Among those present were Master Yoda and his own master, Thame Cerulian.

"A mission for you, we have," began the little green Jedi upon his chair in the center of the half circle of seats. "To Yaga Minor you will go. Negotiate a settlement between the shipyards and it's workers, you must."

"A workers union strike?" Dooku asked, a little perturbed that his skills were being squandered on settling a dispute that another Jedi with half his skills could easily resolve.

"It is vital that the production of ships resumes at Yaga Minor," Cerulian informed his former padawan.

"Beneath you this is not," Yoda pointed his gimmer stick at Dooku accusingly. The young Jedi Knight tried to suppress the embarrassed blush from coming to his cheeks. Yoda knew him all too well and knew how to remind him of it.

"Of course, Master Yoda," he replied humbly and spread his hands in a complacent gesture. "I will succeed in finding a solution that all parties can agree upon."

"Good." The Jedi Master gave his former Padawan a slight approving grin before Master Cerulian continued the briefing.

"Jedi Ochoa will give you the details of the company and the union involved," Cerulian gestured toward the aide that silently stood near the doors behind Dooku and Qui-Gon. "You are to depart immediately."

Before Dooku could say or do anything further, Yoda spoke again in almost contemplative, conspiratorial tone. "Upon completion of your mission, trust in the Force you should. Go now, you will and may the Force be with you, Master Dooku."

The Jedi bowed once more to the Council before Dooku turned on his heel and strode out of the chamber, wondering what Master Yoda meant. He stopped just beyond the doors when he realized his Padawan was not following. "More to say, have you Padawan Jinn?" he heard the master say, clearly amused and Dooku could see his Padawan staring at the Council members in awe struck bewilderment. This must have been the boy's first time before the Council.

"Qui-Gon!" he snapped gently at the boy. Qui-Gon broke out of his daze and hurried with an apology to the Council and out of the chamber in an undignified manner. He gave his master a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, Master," Qui-Gon tried to apologize, his head bowed in shame for gawking at the Council. Dooku placed a gentle hand on his Padawan's shoulder and steer him toward the turbolift after accepting the datapad with the details of his mission from the Council's aide before she called in the next appointment.

"No need to apologize. I remember the first time I saw the Council myself. Though I had been a little more aware when my master was leaving." He gave Qui-Gon a reassuring smile. "Remember to be mindful of the here and now, my Padawan."

Relieved that Dooku was not angry with him, he returned his Master's smile. "I will, Master."

*BrS – Before Re-Synchronization/After Re-Synchronization is an In-universe dating system with the Battle of Naboo being 0 ArS and the Battle of Genosis 13 ArS. I am using this because it is so much easier to calculate dates this way for this time period than subtracting 33 years from the Battle of Yavin.

** Mataeus Balle is an original character from another story I have in the works. His history parallels with Dooku's own but ended far differently than Dooku's.


	3. Lone Survivor

**Chapter Two**

_Lone Survivor_

The trip to Yaga Minor had been an uneventful twelve hours in the small consular ship. Dooku spent half the time meditating on the problem he had to resolve and the rest instructing Qui-Gon in blaster deflection and lightsaber technique.

When they arrived at the system and welcomed aboard one of the major shipyards, the Jedi Knight had been in a good mood until he learned how relatively simple it was to get the two arguing parties to agree to a contract. Immensely disappointed that his time was wasted with a dispute that would have resolved itself on it's own and did not take him more than half a day to resolve, the Jedi Knight glared out the viewport of a shipyard at the trillions of stars beyond.

Qui-Gon looked up at his mentor with an expression of worry that a child of his age could only comprehend. "Master?"

Dooku shifted and met his Padawan's gaze. He saw the concern in the boy's face and clamped down on his irritation at the Council and the Yagai. "I'm fine Qui-Gon. Just... disappointed in the mission."

"It wasn't what you expected, was it?" The boy was perceptive and it further supported his decision to take him on as a Padawan Learner. Dooku shook his head lightly and resumed staring out at the stars beyond. His gaze caught sight of the ion engines of ships coming and going from the planet and shipyards and he wondered if he would be stuck resolving minor issues for the rest of his life.

He didn't understand why the Council had assigned him to this task when a lesser Jedi could have been better suited for it. Why didn't they give him something worthy of his skill as a diplomat? Both of his masters had praised him on his negotiation skills and several other influential people had predicted that he would make an excellent Jedi Ambassador.

Yet here he was with his Padawan on a world farthest from the center of the galaxy, brooding over the unfairness of the Council.

Dooku's attention was abruptly turned away from his reflection in the window to a bright flash and the subtle whisper in the Force. Dooku frowned at the phenomenon and Yoda's parting words came back to him.

_Upon completion of your mission, trust in the Force you should._

Qui-Gon tugged on his Master's sleeve and pointed to where the flash of light had occurred. Dooku figured the boy had felt the disturbance in the Force as well. "What _was_ that, Master?"

"I'm not sure, but... " he trailed off and narrowed his eyes at the point in space. "I think we should go investigate. In fact the Force is telling us to. Come."

With a flourish of his robes, Dooku headed down the corridor to the airlock where the Jedi consular ship was docked, Qui-Gon hurrying to keep up with his Master's longer strides. It did not take them long to disembark from the shipyard nor was it difficult to get permission from the space authority to investigate the anomaly they had seen. As it turned out, they had detected a ship dropping out of an unstable hyperspace jump and it was failing to answer their hails. The Yagai authority confirmed the ship was adrift but short of sending a scout to take a closer look they could not tell the Jedi anything else.

"Bring us closer for a scan, Captain," Dooku ordered of the ship's pilot. He and Qui-Gon stood behind the two men as they brought the consular ship closer to the drifting starship. As soon as they were in range, the co-pilot began the sensor scan.

"Definitely dead in space, Master Dooku," the man said after a minute. "Looks like she took a beating. Lots of carbon scoring along her hull near the engine compartment. Computer can't identify the model or make."

"Try hailing them again." Dooku patiently waited as the pilot tried to raise the ship, but after the third attempt it was obvious no one was answering. Though Dooku wondered if it was because they couldn't or wouldn't.

"Orders?" the captain asked of him after a fourth attempt and stopped. The Jedi Knight studied the ship, noting the sleek, chromium design and wondered where it had come from and what had happened to it and it's passengers. The vessel looked harmless and after having the co-pilot confirm the ship did not have any weapons, Dooku thought perhaps that it was a transport of some sort.

"See if it has a docking ring," he commanded. "If they are unable to respond it could be because they are in trouble or worse, dead."

"Yes, sir." The captain brought the ship within a hundred yards of the silver vessel and after a minute, found the docking hatch. It took another ten minutes for the counselor ship to establish a secure connection with the drifting ship and while that was happening, Dooku and Qui-Gon prepared to board.

The tall Jedi Knight snapped a wrist held sensor device to his left arm before accepting the breath mask from his Padawan. "I hope there are survivors," Qui-Gon said in concern while he stood there patiently for Dooku to double check his own gear.

"So do I." There was a reverberating mechanical clank from beyond the airlock as the two ships connected and Dooku looked up to watch as the umbilical bridge extended to the silver craft.

"Master Dooku, we're secured," the young Knight heard over the headset he wore. "We'll keep this channel open and monitor your progress."

"Acknowledged, Captain. Going over now." Dooku pressed in the keypad and with a hiss of hydraulics, the airlock opened. Master and Padawan stepped inside, closed the interior door before opening the exterior and revealing the umbilical passage.

Dooku grabbed a hold of the railing before pressing his booted feet to the metal bridge and activating the magnets that would keep him from floating across the passage. He hated zero gravity and was grateful for the mag boots he wore. He hoped there was artificial gravity on the other ship.

Behind him, he heard his Padawan secure himself to the floor and started forward. "I want you to stay with me until I can ascertain what happened to the ship's crew."

"What if we find survivors?" Qui-Gon asked as they steadily made their way across. They stopped at the airlock at the other end and Dooku didn't immediately reply while he examined the keypad. The lettering was in aurebesh and the Jedi Knight wished he had a code decipher at hand. It would have made getting in a lot easier.

He unclasped his lightsaber and ignited the green blade. "Stay with me anyway. Now stand back while I cut us a hole." The Padawan stepped back as his master plunged the blade into the door. The metal protested against the weapon and sent sparks and molten duri-steel down the face as the Jedi slowly cut through it. It took Dooku nearly ten minutes to finish the precise cut and with a gesture of his hand, the sliced hull fell inward with a loud clang.

The Jedi Knight was the first to step through the airlock, his green blade illuminating the interior with a serene glow. He kept Qui-Gon back before pressing the keypad that would open the interior door. It obeyed with a hiss and Dooku stepped into an eerie scene.

The ship was running on emergency power, red and yellow emergency lights flashed off the pristine white walls of the corridor he was in. He could see small tendrils of smoke crawling sinisterly across the ceiling from where ever there was a fire. Aside from himself, there was no one in the corridor with him, alive or dead.

Dooku checked the readings on his sensor and after confirming the atmosphere was safe for humans, he reached up to remove his breath mask and switched on the glow lamp of his headset. He glanced back at Qui-Gon and deactivated his lightsaber. "Come along, Padawan. It's safe to enter at least."

Qui-Gon hurried inside and looked around the corridor. "So where do we start?"

"The bridge. We'll access the computer from there and find out what happened and if there are any survivors, that is as good of a place to start." He stretched out with the Force and searched the ship, the light of his headset guiding the way as they made their way through the ship. He could not detect any life anywhere but that did not mean someone wasn't alive.

They passed what was the cargo hold and with a quick look, saw no bodies except for a golden droid of a model that neither had ever seen before. Dooku surmised that it was a protocol droid of some sort but seemed to be disabled. He made a mental note to check later to see if it still functioned or if it could be repaired.

Continuing on they came to a galley and the first members of the crew or perhaps passengers from the way they were dressed. Both of them were human females and they were dressed in styling robes of the likes that they reminded Dooku of the styles worn by the aides of Republic Senators.

"You getting this, Captain?" Dooku asked, turning one of the women over after confirming life had left her.

"Yes, sir."

"See if you can find a facial match in the Republic Census Bureau."

"On it."

He did not expect to find anything right away or at all. If these women were aides, they were not the kind he was use to seeing in the Senate. After turning over the second woman, he noticed the similarity between them and the fact that both had blasters suggested their purpose was not secretarial. Then again they simply could have been sisters.

"Master Dooku," he heard Qui-Gon and looked up at the Padawan. The boy held a flimsi sheet with a seal embossed at the top. "I don't recognize this emblem."

He handed it over to Dooku and the young Knight traced the symbol with a finger. It was circular with eight spokes that made it look like some kind of gear. It was familiar and the Force was telling him that it was important. "This looks... no it can't be. I'll have to double check the Archives to be certain."

"Do you want me to go back and make contact with the Temple?" the boy offered a little desperately. Dooku shook his head but stopped himself from declining when he detected the unease in the boy. _Was this his first time seeing a corpse? _He knew he could not and should not shelter the young Padawan but a part of him did not want to do what his masters would have done, that they had done with him.

"A good idea. Be careful in returning." He handed the flimsi sheet back and watched his Padawan nod with a paled face. He sent a reassuring warmth through the weak bond they shared. Qui-Gon relaxed a little and some of the color returned to his face before he made his way back to their ship.

Dooku stood and examined his surroundings. There were more flimsi sheets scattered on the floor and a folder with the mysterious symbol on it's cover and _confidential_ written in aurebesh. It resembled a diplomatic mission packet and Dooku reached out to pick it up.

Before his fingers could wrap around the edges of it, a sudden surge in the Force drew his attention away from the packet and in the direction of the bow of the starship. He grabbed the packet to look through later and made his way forward. Something or someone was alive though the signature was faint in the Force. He hurried with an urgency in his step, the Force telling him that if he didn't he would be too late.

The Jedi Knight came upon the bridge, it's door erratic as it tried to open or close but not quite being able to. It was stuck half way. He pushed against the door with the Force to open it the rest of the way and it stopped with a crunching sound of grinding gears and metal.

Dooku stepped inside and found that the cockpit of the ship was in as much of a disarray as the rest of the ship. There were three people inside, two of them were pilots and both were slumped over against the controls. He checked both of their vitals and declared them gone before be turned his attention to the third person.

Like the other two women, she had similar features but her clothing suggested she was more important than the two he had found in the galley. Combined with the diplomatic packet, he suspected she was an ambassador or some kind of politician at least. He frowned as he felt the Force guiding him to her, that she was the one he had sensed. Probing deeper he could barely feel the thread of life in her and he reached out to check her pulse on her neck just to make sure.

She was alive, but barely. Whatever had killed the rest of the crew and passengers, had not quite finished her off yet. Dooku placed a hand on her forehead and poured the life energies of the Force in to her to help stabilize her. "Captain, I have a survivor but she is critical. Have the med bay prepped."

"Right away, sir."

Dooku tucked the diplomatic packet into his belt and scooped the woman out of the chair and into his arms. Carefully he made his way back to the consular ship. Although he wanted to explore the rest of the ship, he had a duty to save this woman's life first. He would search the rest of the ship and establish a download link to it's datacore later.

As he made his way back, he suspected that the Council knew this was going to happen and had wanted him to be the one to encounter and deal with it. The dispute between the Yagai had not been the concern, just the means to place a Jedi at the right place and time. Dooku scowled at being manipulated like that.


	4. A Clone and a Padawan

**Chapter 3**

_A Clone and a Padawan_

_'Seps!' shouted someone familiar. She could smell the fear permeating around her. It was coming from her, she realized. How had the Separatists known when and where to intercept her? No. They hadn't._

_'Looks like they're engaged with some of ours!' _

"I wonder who she is."

A gentle voice broke through the haze. Where had it come from? She didn't recognize it but it felt familiar, kind even, like she had heard it before but much older. Gruffer.

"When she wakes up I'll ask her."

_That_ voice she did recognize! But how? How did he get aboard? What did he want?

_'We have incoming!'_

_'See if we can hail that cruiser!' She remembered ordering to that person she couldn't put a name to at the moment._

"Can I stay with her, Master?"

Master? So he has a new apprentice. From the sounds of it, a young boy. She felt pity for the child and wished the Force wasn't so cruel to give _him_ as the boy's master.

_'No can do, Senator,' her pilot replied. 'The Seps are jamming communications.' Lovely. Just lovely. The ship lurched from a hit and Typho, that's what his name was she now remembered, banked the ship away from the incoming droid fighters._

_'Make a jump to hyperspace then!'_

_'Are you crazy? We'll be destroyed by the tidal waves of the gravity well that Seppy ship is generating!'_

_'Better than being captured!' She had argued hotly. 'There is a chance we'll survive the jump, now do it, Captain!'_

"In case she wakes up while you are on the ship?" the boy added. While he's on the ship? Where was she then if she wasn't on her cruiser? Did he bring her aboard that strange dreadnaught she remembered seeing in the battle?

She forced herself to wake up at that point, to push past the fog of drowsiness and pain. She needed to know where she was and what _he_ wanted with her, and if there was a chance to escape him. The boy could be her salvation if he was young enough and still ignorant of what his master was capable of.

"It seems that will not be necessary, Padawan." He must have noticed her waking up. Of course he would, he was, _had_ _been_ a Jedi Master. Just because one left the Order didn't mean one stopped using the Force. She could imagine it was like saying he could no more stop breathing than the sun could stop rising.

Her eyes fluttered open groggily and she tried to focus on the overhead lamp until her vision cleared and the gundark sized headache cleared. A masculine hand rested on her forehead and she flinched a little but relaxed when she felt a gentle warmth permeate through her, easing the pounding throb in her mind.

"Hello there," said _he_ after the hand disappeared. She turned her head to the side to see where she was and where _he_ was. She easily recognized an infirmary by the vacant medical bed and the pristine white walls behind a brown robed, young man. He looked concerned as he stood beside her bed but otherwise he showed little other emotion. Was this the apprentice? He looked familiar, like she had seen him before, an older version. Maybe a relative? "How are you feeling?"

This young man had _his_ voice! But how? How was that possible? _A clone. He has to be, but why would he clone himself and dress him as a Jedi?_

His concern gave way to a deep frown when she started to try and crawl away from him, terrified. Though where she could go in the medical bed except further against the pillow, who knew. He reached out to her with a gentle but firm hand.

"Easy, madame," his baritone voice said soothingly. "You are safe here." No she wasn't! Whatever machinations his master was concocting she was not going to be a part of it. But something in his face and voice was telling her to trust him even though she knew she should not.

"Master, is she alright?" said the young voice she had heard earlier in her half dream state. She found him standing on the other side of her bed. He was young, probably no older than Ani had been when he joined the Jedi Order. He certainly looked like a Padawan. She did not get the terrified feeling with him like she had with his master. He also looked familiar but she could not put a name or a place where she could have met him before.

"She's in shock, but I think she will be fine," _he_ said reassuringly. "Do you remember your name?"

She blinked at him. He didn't know who she was? _Has to be a ploy,_ she thought but once again she found that she should trust him or at least give him the benefit of doubt though she really knew not why. She reasoned that although he may have _his_ voice and a younger face but that did not mean he _was_ him. This clone, for surely that is what he was, probably broke away from his master for all she knew.

"Padmé," she rasped. Her throat was dry and sore, as if she had been coughing a lot recently. What had happened to her after she had ordered Captain Typho to make a jump? The _clone_ reached over to a plastiglass cup and pitcher on a nearby stand and poured her some water. He helped her drink some of it and the cool, smooth liquid was soothing to her parched throat. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled softly at her. He had a pleasant smile when he wasn't trying to be an evil overlord hell bent on destroying the Republic. "I am Jedi Knight Yan Dooku and this is my Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn. We found you, _I_ found you unconscious aboard your damaged ship. Do you know what happened to you?"

_Wait, what? He_ is _Dooku and... and the boy is Qui-Gon?_ she thought frantically and in surprise and looked at the Padawan again. Now that she had a name to his face, she could see the same kind eyes she had known in the late Jedi Master. He had the same concern and kindness in his expression too, though _cuter_. What was going on? Why was there a clone claiming to be Count Dooku and why was there a boy that looked so much like a very young Qui-Gon Jinn?

Where was she? What had happened to her? _Where_ were her people? Who were _these_ people?

The shock of her encounter with the Separatists and then this was too much for her. Darkness crept at the edge of her vision quickly and then consumed her. The last thing she saw was the Dooku clone leaning over her with a concerned look, calling her name as she faded into unconsciousness.

—

The medical droid finished it's examination of the woman named Padmé. "Aside from the bruises and the stress induced trauma she has suffered, she is perfectly fine, Master Jedi. She has simply fainted."

"Fainted?" the Jedi repeated incredulously.

"Most likely from stress. She will be fine if you leave her to rest." The droid left no room for argument from him and Dooku wasn't going to bother even though he wanted to ask her questions. When she had woken up, he had sensed fear, unexplained terror directed toward him. Why would she be afraid of him? Who was she and what had he done to induce such feelings from her?

Dooku pursed his lips into a thin line as he studied her. She was young, around his own age in fact. She was also pretty and the way she slept made her look beautiful in her serenity and innocence. But he knew appearances can be deceiving and he shouldn't judge her based on some natural attraction he had for the opposite gender of his race.

If he wanted to learn more about her he would have to be patient and perhaps she would open up more to his Padawan than to him. At least he did not get the same sense of fear from her when she had looked at Qui-Gon. In the meantime, he would see if her ship could shed some light on the mystery.

"It looks like you will get to watch over her after all, Qui-Gon."


	5. Sith, Bendu and Republicans Oh my!

****_Very minor detail change in Chapter 2, don't need to go back and read it since that change is mentioned in this chapter too. This chapter was a little frustrating to write, though I think it mostly has to do with the hours of research I did last night on subjects and writing it on my phone, then finding that I missed some key points in my research. *grumbles*  
_

**Chapter 4**

_Sith, Bendu and Republicans Oh my!_

"Master Dooku?" called the ship's captain over the comm. Dooku frowned at the computer console he was at, trying to gain access to the information hidden within. He was growing frustrated by the minute with it's refusal to cooperate with him and from the difficulty of breaking the encryption, the unexpected interruption by the captain was not helping his souring mood.

"Yes, what is it?" he replied. Dooku smacked his palm against the side of the console and the computer beeped rudely back at him for it. "Blasted machine! Where is an astromech when I need one?"

"I have a Jedi Jocasta Nu on the line, sir. Shall I patch her through?" The Jedi Knight straightened at the mentioning of his fellow Jedi and friend, his mood quickly improving. If she was contacting him than she must have found something in the archives concerning that strange emblem Qui-Gon had found.

"Yes, patch her through." It took only a moment and he was soon hearing her voice over his comm. He would have preferred to talk to her over the ship's holocomm instead but the sooner he heard what she may have learned, the easier it would be for him to solve the mystery that was Padmé and this ship.

"Master Dooku," she greeted him. "I hear you've had quite the mission resolving employment benefits." He could hear the tease in her tone and although he was scowling, inwardly he was just as amused as her. _Quite a mission indeed._

When he had left Coruscant two days ago, he had only expected the next few days to be wallowing in boring arguments on how unfair and unreasonable the employers and the workers were being toward each other. He certainly had not expected to be rescuing mysterious women from drifting ships.

"Nice to hear you too, Jo." Dooku walked away from the computer console to walk the ship and see if there could be anything useful to help him. "Did you find anything on that emblem Qui-Gon showed you?"

"Straight to the point as usual, Yan. But yes, as a matter of fact I did." Jocasta paused for a moment before she continued. "I'm sending the data to your ship for you to read in further detail, but I think you already know the subject matter anyway."

"Oh?"

He found his path had led him to the cargo hold and he stared at the deactivated protocol droid or at least he thought it was. For all he knew it was an assassin droid disguised to be a harmless relations droid. Dooku listened to his friend as she explained what she had learned about the symbol while he approached the droid and rolled it onto it's front.

"It's Bendu. Well a very close representation of the Bendu circle, anyway," she told him. Dooku paused over examining the droid's neck for an activation switch. He knew about the Bendu. They were an ancient order of monks that believed in balancing the Force and the Bendu circle was suppose to represent perfect harmony between the aspects of the Force. _Perfect_ balance.

"I find it hard to believe that our mystery woman is a Bendu monk. Did you find anything on civilizations using the symbol or a variant of it for themselves?" he asked. The Jedi found the switch in the back of the golden droid's neck.

"Of course!" she feigned offense. "What kind of archivist do you think I am?"

Dooku chuckled and flipped the switch as he spoke. "A very thorough one I hope," he teased and then gave a curse. "Damn!"

Nothing had happened!

"Is everything alright?" He could hear her concern and he quickly brought her attention back to the subject of the Bendu symbol, scowling at the uncooperative machine. What was it with the machines on this ship?

"I'm fine, just a droid that won't work. You were about to tell me what civilizations used the Bendu circle?" Dooku pushed aside the broken machine and stood back up.

"There were only two that has ever used the symbol and you will not like half of the answer." There were many civilizations he did not like though he could not find one that he could think of that would have used the symbol.

"Which ones?" he asked, smoothing his tunic and robes out and then reaching out with the Force to grab the droid to take back to the ship. He started walking out of the cargo hold with it in tow behind him.

She was quiet and Dooku wondered if he was going to have to _persuade_ her in to telling him. But she spoke up after a minute. "The Old Galactic Republic and... the Sith Empire."

He startled at her revelation, just enough to lose his concentration on the droid. With a loud metallic clang the droid fell to the floor behind him.

"Are you certain?" he asked quickly, sharply.

"Yes."

"Are you _certain_? Maybe there is a mistake in..." he repeated. He needed to know for certain. If this woman and this ship came from a remnant of that ancient empire, never mind that the circle had also been used by the Republic at one point in it's long history. There was no way, anyway, that she was from the Republic. Last he knew as of two days ago, the Republic still used a variant of the winged emblem of the Jedi Order.

"Yan." Jocasta was slightly annoyed when she interrupted him and he expected to get a lecture any second now about the archives. "The Archives are the most extensive and complete in the galaxy. I researched as thoroughly as humanly possible and with the help of my master. If it does not exist in the archives..."

"It simply does not exist," he finished with a flippant tone. Someday she was going to eat those words and he hoped he was there to see it. He loved Jocasta as a friend but when it came to the Jedi Archives she could be so irritatingly arrogant. "So what do you think? Is my mystery woman a Sith or a Bendu monk?"

Jocasta sighed softly and he could envision her pinching the bridge of her nose at how he dismissed her lecture in favor of his current puzzle. He smiled and knew if he had been in her presence she would have smacked him on the shoulder in irritation and threatened to never let him in the Archives again. He would have simply argued that she would have to do all his research for him and listen to him dismiss the theory that the archives were complete every time. She had never carried out her promise, she couldn't as an apprentice to the Chief Librarian anyway. Though he wondered if she would when she took her Master's place.

"Maybe you should ask her?" Jocasta answered finally.

"I would if she was awake." He reached behind him with the Force and picked up the droid again. "I'd like your opinion, Jo."

"Well, the Bendu have been thought to be extinct for millennia though it is possible that a culture has adopted it recently or that they have survived on Ando Prime," she admitted rather reluctantly but then quickly added, "But if that is the case we would have learned of it by now."

"Uh huh," Dooku answered in amusement, half distracted by maneuvering the droid across the umbilical. "Admit it, your precious archive is not as complete like you and your master want to believe."

"Conjecture does not make the Archives incomplete, Yan!" He smirked and then shook his head. "You wanted my opinion, I gave it. Now if you have nothing else needing researched, I have other things to tend to."

"You have my thanks, Jo." He tried to sooth her. "I'll repay you when we get back, promise."

"You better," her tone was friendlier and it relieved Dooku that he wasn't going to have to endure any suffering from her when he got back. He liked to tease her about her pride in the Archives but it had often cost him when he had been a Padawan. She always found a way to get him to help her in her duties as a Padawan to an archivist, knowing perfectly well he hated it.

"I will." The connection closed and Dooku thought about what he had been told. It was unlikely that the Sith Empire of old had survived their defeat but then again the ancient Jedi had thought the same thing after the Great Hyperspace War. There was plenty of space left in the galaxy that was unexplored and perfect for the Sith to hide in. His master believed that the Sith still existed but were in hiding. Could he have just stumbled across one?

_It would explain her fear of me. She had recognized a Jedi._ But that did not explain why she had relaxed with Qui-Gon. He glanced down at the droid, hoping that it was the key to solving this mystery. Dooku brought the droid to the ship's galley and set it on one of the lounges to try and fix it later. Right now he was more interested in the data Jocasta had sent him. He sat down at a dejarik table after downloading the information onto a datapad and fetched the diplomatic packet he had found and began reading through who and what the Bendu were and brushing up on his history of the second Sith Empire and the Old Republic.

The Order of the Dai Bendu were the first to use the eight spoke circle, believing in the unity and balance of the Force and were possibly the most pacifistic of all the Force using organizations in galactic history. There was little known about them save that they had existed before the Jedi Order and had slowly disappeared from the galactic stage. Some Jedi scholars believed that the Jedi had origins with the Bendu but have been unable to prove or disprove the theory.

Dooku was not surprised at how little information the Archives had on the Bendu. The order was ancient, older than the Jedi and the Sith. Older than the old Galactic Republic even. Time and wars had a nasty way of losing knowledge. He skimmed through the history of the Bendu, the little that the Jedi knew of, and went straight to the second Sith Empire.

He glanced at the emblem on the folder and compared it to the one that the ancient Sith had used. Both had six spokes, but the Sith was a bit more angular, angrier even, while the diplomatic packet's was very much more like that of the Bendu. He wanted to doubt that his mysterious guest was Sith and was more likely someone associated with the Bendu, but as he stared at the two symbols, his instincts was telling him that it was more closely related to the Sith than it was to the Bendu.

Moving on and trying to ignore that instinctive feeling, he examined the symbols of the Old Republic and although they had used the Bendu circle as inspiration for their own, it was no where near as close as the Sith had been. The Force was telling him something despite his unwillingness to want to believe in it.

_Trust in the Force, you should,_ he heard the voice of Master Yoda repeat to him. Dooku looked up at the disabled droid. If there was a way to find out for certain who Padmé was and where she had come from, the droid had the answers. He was not likely to break into the ship's computer without an astromech, the military grade encryption it had, and not to mention the rude personality, would require more time than he had to break it on his own.

Repairing a droid and putting a restraining bolt on it, however, was much easier and more likely to pay off. He just hoped it did not have some kind of subroutine that prevented it from revealing information to anyone but those it was programmed to obey.


	6. Some Answers Given

_Fixed Chapter 1. Accidentally posted Ch2 as Ch1. XD_

**Chapter 5**

_Some Answers Given_

There was nothing else he could do about the encrypted computer on the strange ship, so Dooku had the Yaga Minor Port Authorities to come and tow the vessel back to a shipyard where he could acquire an astromech to hack through the encryption. Easier said than done. As soon as the Yagai had attempted to move the derelict ship, things went down hill quickly. Whatever had attacked the ship, had damaged the reactor core and it was only by the Will of the Force that the ship had not exploded while _he _had been aboard.

But it did explode anyway, much to his displeasure and regret. Now he won't be able to learn anything from the ship's computer and it had cost the lives of a tug crew.

"I'm glad you weren't still aboard, Master," Qui-Gon said from the chair he sat on beside the bed of their mysterious guest. She was still unconscious even hours later after she had fainted and her ship destroyed itself. "I am not sure I would want Master Yoda training me, if the horror stories you keep telling me are true."

Despite the seriousness of what had happened hours ago, Master Dooku couldn't help the slight grin from cracking at the corner of his lips. "Fortunately for both of us, I was not. If I hadn't decided to let that Yagai officer win the argument, I probably would have been aboard and you would be sporting many new bruises from Master Yoda's gimmer stick. Hand me that spanner will you?"

The young padawan reached over to a roll out table with an array of hand tools and picked out the spanner his master wanted. He watched in fascination as the man tried to repair the droid they had found on the ship, the only other thing they had managed to save before it had exploded on them and the Yagai tugs. Dooku had the automaton's open head in one hand while he unscrewed the protective inner casing that housed the droid's brain.

"So what's wrong with that droid?" his apprentice asked and Dooku shrugged.

"That is what I am trying to find out, Padawan." He had checked the power core in the chest and found that it was functioning properly or as properly as he thought was right for this model. In fact he wasn't even certain there were models of this droid at all. The insides were a hodge-podge of parts from various service droids, like someone had built the droid from scratch. "I've recognized the basic parts for this thing, but... I don't know. This droid seems more custom built than an actual model."

"Maybe we should let her fix it?" Qui-Gon suggested, his blue eyes flicking back to the woman who slept peacefully on the bed. While his master had been busy with exploring and securing the ship, Qui-Gon had kept a friendly vigil over her. He had held a one sided conversation with her, mostly telling her about his master and life at the Temple and his study under Dooku; hoping that she would wake up and join in on the conversation. The most she had done was simply stir in her sleep, responding to some dream that was disturbing her.

"And let her wipe its memory of useful information?" Dooku looked at him sternly. "If she is Sith or works for them, this droid will know."

"But what if she's not? She doesn't strike me as someone who would work with or be one of the Sith." Qui-Gon argued in her defense. His master had noticed over the months that the boy had a tendency to trust too easily. He knew one day it was going to hurt him badly, he just hoped that the boy would recover from it and learn like he had with someone he had thought was a friend.

"Appearances can be deceiving, Padawan," he reminded and set the spanner aside to pry the casing from the head.

"Yet you're judging her based on some documents, an unknown ship model, that droid and an unexplained fear towards you," the padawan gestured at the machine's head his master had in his hands. Dooku had to give the boy credit for turning the wisdom back around at him. He had been judging her on just flimsy evidence that she served the Sith. _Yet the Force is telling me that I am right._

"Perhaps you are right," he said finally after a moment of silence. He stopped working on the droid and set it on the tray with the spanner to look at his padawan calmly. "Perhaps she isn't Sith but works for them. Perhaps she doesn't know that she serves the Sith. Perhaps to her, the Sith are the equivalent of Jedi in terms of role and we're the evil ones."

Qui-Gon was quiet as he studied the woman, wishing she would wake up so they could settle this debate as to who she was and where she was from, and so his master wouldn't patronize him. He did not want to believe that someone so innocent looking and pretty could be evil or serve evil. He also did not like the fact that his master was quick to judge someone for the worse. _He doesn't trust easily, _he reminded himself. He wondered if Dooku trusted him at all.

"I'm just saying that we should reserve judgment until after she has had a chance to explain herself, Master," he replied tersely and received a glare in return from his master. Movement from the bed drew both of their attention away from each other and the _conversation,_ and Qui-Gon smiled at seeing that their guest had finally awoken again. "Welcome back, Miss Padmé."

Dooku stood from the chair and crossed the few short feet to stand beside his padawan and the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked of her calmly, any anger toward his padawan's disrespect a moment before was gone from his tone. She looked up at him and for a brief moment he felt her recoil in the Force at the sight of him. He must have worn his confusion on his face for she spoke up and apologized to him.

"I'm... sorry, I am just surprised." Padmé closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. After a moment more and briefly glancing at her surroundings, she asked; "Where am I?"

"You are aboard a Jedi Consular ship," Dooku answered and summoned his chair to the bedside so he could sit. Qui-Gon handed her a cup of water after he helped her sit up in the bed and while his master spoke. "We're in the Yaga system."

"Yaga system? I... my ship made it after all." He could see that she was confused and then felt her concern, no doubt for those aboard her ship. "The others... Captain Typho and..." she trailed off and looked at him questioningly, though Dooku could sense the underlying fear towards him.

_Is she thinking I've done something?_ It probably would not be best for them to mention that her crew were dead and the ship destroyed. But before he could relay that to his padawan through their bond, the boy spoke up in a sympathetic voice.

"I'm sorry, they're gone," Qui-Gon said, looking as remorseful about it as he sounded. "You were the only survivor we found before the ship blew up." Dooku gave him a disproving look and made a mental note to teach his padawan the subtleties of dealing with suspected threats such as Sith and their cohorts.

"They're..." She was having difficulty believing what she had just been told. Both Jedi could not blame her for feeling that way. Dooku was unsure how he would react if he found out the entire Order had been wiped out. "What did you do?" Padmé then said accusingly at the man she believed was a clone of the Count.

"Me?" the older Jedi said, offended that she would accuse him of doing something to her people. "I've done nothing except rescue a woman from a ship. Why the hostility towards me?"

"You're," she gestured at him angrily. "Count Dooku, or you look like him. A younger version anyway. What do you, does _he_ want?" When he blinked in confusion and slight surprise at her, Padmé wondered if she had drawn the right conclusions about him.

"I beg your pardon? I am no Count and there hasn't been one in my family since my biological father passed away years ago." He was both confused and intrigued by this woman. She somehow knew about his title and family, yet she assumed he was someone else. There was no way she could have met his father, could she?

"Maybe we should start from the beginning." Qui-Gon suggested, equally as confused by the woman's outburst toward his master. "Who are you and where are you from?"

Padmé sighed and rubbed at her tired eyes with a hand before meeting the young boy's blue gaze. She wanted to believe that these two were really Jedi but she had seen and experienced stranger things in the war and being rescued by two men claiming to be younger versions of men she knew would not top the list of weirdness. Yet as she looked at the man she thought was a clone and the young boy who should not exist so young or alive, she began to wonder if perhaps she should push this up to the top of that list.

What were the odds of something happening during the wild hyperspace jump she had Typho make?

"What happened to my ship?" she asked instead of answering the young padawan. Dooku sighed beside her.

"The reactor core overloaded from the damage it had sustained by whoever attacked your ship. It... incinerated the ship and a tug crew that was trying to bring it back to the shipyards." He sounded like he regretted the loss of life and that perplexed Padmé Maybe this man was not Count Dooku or a clone of him after all. Surely any clone would have the same air of arrogance and cruelty?

"And no one else survived?" Dooku shook his head and watched her lay back further against the pillows of her medical bed. Padmé closed her eyes in sorrow and regret. She had been the one to give the order and now everyone was gone.

"Well there is the droid," he gestured behind him at the head laying on the tray table. "I'm sorry to say he is not functioning. I am trying to repair him but, I am unfamiliar with the model and cannot find a schematic in our databanks for him." He watched her peer around him and her eyes widening a bit at what he had done to the droid. He shrugged his shoulders and gave a sheepish grin. "I am not exactly that good with repairing automatons, but I know enough to not break them any further."

"Please... do not work on him any more," she pleaded and to her surprise he nodded. He could feel the attachment she had to the droid.

"When we return to Coruscant and the Temple, I can have one of our mechanics repair him if you like?" Dooku offered.

"Th... Thank you." Padmé was uncertain as to what to think now. If this man had been a clone of Count Dooku, the Jedi Order certainly would not have allowed him into the temple. Chancellor Palpatine would not even allow him on Coruscant for that matter. But he was heading there with a certainty that he belonged there. "Who are you, really?"

"Uh...I thought I introduced myself as Yan Dooku, Jedi Knight of the Jedi Order?"

"But how? You... he..."

The Jedi Knight frowned a bit, sensing her fear being replaced with complete confusion. He tilted his head slightly as he tried to figure things out but he had little to nothing to go on. "Why don't you introduce yourself properly, madame, and answer Qui-Gon's earlier question."

His padawan nodded and waited patiently with his master. She looked between them again and seemed to think about his request before nodding at last. "I am Padmé Amidala of Naboo. I am a Senator in the Galactic Republic."

The Jedi glanced at each other in surprise. "Qui-Gon, go and confirm that," Dooku commanded.

"Yes, Master." The boy hurried out of the med center and when he was gone, the Jedi Knight stood from his chair and pulled out the flimsisheet his apprentice had found earlier in the day. With his padawan busy, he could interrogate her without the boy's empathy interfering.

"Do you recognize this symbol?" he asked with gravity.

Padmé nodded, even more confused that he didn't and the tone he was giving her.

"What is it?"

"It represents the Republic."

"Wrong," he said sharply. She glared at him. "This," he pointed at a nearby symbol on some piece of electronic in the med center. "Is the symbol of the Republic." She blinked at the winged emblem.

"But the Republic hasn't used that symbol in two years!" Padmé argued and it was Dooku's turn to look at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"What I just said." She folded her arms across her chest and continued to glare at him. She would not be bullied by this man claiming to be a Jedi and the Sith Lord she knew he was.

"So you're telling me then that you are indeed a Republic Senator, serving a Galactic Republic that has chosen a Sith version of the Bendu symbol and are not a servant to some hidden Sith Empire?" He was not expecting the offended and horrified look from her.

"Now look here! I don't know who you are or where I am or what you want," she said hotly. Dooku found the short woman getting out of the bed and standing toe to toe with him. Her finger poking into his chest and forcing him to take a step back as he felt her anger come off her like waves. He was glad that Qui-Gon was not here to witness this. This was probably quite the sight, a six and half foot tall Jedi being lectured by a woman a good foot and some inches shorter than him.

"I have spoken the truth and I do not, stars forbid, serve some Sith Empire!" Padmé continued her tirade against him. "You claim to be a Jedi Knight and yet you do not recognize your own Republic or a well known Senator of the Galactic Senate! And furthermore, I do _not _appreciate being interrogated. You are just as manipulative and vile as the Sith who cloned you!"

"Cloned me?" Dooku returned her glare once she was finished. "Sith? What Sith?"

"You're the Sith!" she accused and witnessed a series of emotions briefly flicker across his face and disappear into a mask of nothing. She knew she had struck a cord with him and for a moment she thought she had seen fear in his eyes. Why would he feel fear? Was she right after all that this man was a clone of Count Dooku and he feared his master?

Quietly, Dooku spoke to her again though there was an edge of uncertainty in his voice, "What year is it?" He did not want to be right about the theory he had just come up with.

"Excuse me?" Again she looked at him, perplexed.

"Humor me."

"It is year 12 ArS."

"Would that, to you, translate to the year 919 AR?"


	7. Dangerous Meditations

_Thanks for the kind reviews to those that have reviewed. It means a lot._

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_Dangerous Meditations_

"_Would that, to you, translate to the year 919 AR?" _

"What? No, that would be 46 BrS..." she trailed off as she too came to the same theory as he had.

Dooku saw her understanding in the widening of her eyes and the way she stepped back from him for the safety of her bed. It explained everything. The strange ship and droid, the emblem that represented the Galactic Republic and did not at the same time, her fear of him and her accusation. He would not be surprised when his padawan came back to confirm that there was no Senator Amidala of Naboo in the Galactic Senate.

"Impossible," she breathed. Dooku stepped forward to catch her as her knees gave out from under her. "Fifty-eight years... how?" He gave her a sympathetic look and helped her back onto the bed. Dooku handed her the glass of water before he sat down in Qui-Gon's chair.

"I am uncertain as to how or even if it is true," he answered, any trace of his harshness from earlier gone. "It is a theory based on what evidence I have and the answers you've given me. Your ship came under attack while en route to Yaga Minor, I assume?"

Padmé nodded numbly but said nothing as she sipped the water and listened to him. If what he was saying was true, then this man _is _Count Dooku but years before he fell to the Darkside and joined the Sith. This was the man who trained the greatest Jedi she had the privilege of ever knowing. This was the Jedi whom his Order had respected greatly and were saddened when he had left and had fallen.

"I am not entirely familiar with quantum mechanics and hyperspace theories, but I do understand that a hyperspace window is actually a hole torn open in the time and space continuum. A dimension outside of our own that allows us to travel from point A to point B relatively quickly and remain in contact with the rest of the galaxy regardless of the theories of relativity." Dooku stopped to see if he had lost her but when she gestured for him to continue, he did. "Well... theoretically, and this hasn't been proven but I suppose now it has, if a hyperspace window or hyperdrive were destabilized and other conditions were met, one could go forward or back in time."

He shrugged a little.

"It is just a theory," he added. The med center's door swished open and he sensed Qui-Gon entering.

"There is no Senator Amidala of Naboo, Master," the boy said. Qui-Gon glanced at Padmé warily. His master sensed that the young boy did not like being lied to and he placed a hand on his padawan's shoulder reassuringly.

"I know," he said. "But I believe she has spoken truthfully despite the contradicting evidence."

"Do you really believe what you said, Cou... Master Dooku?" Padmé asked him finally. She seemed more lost than she had moments before when she thought she had been a victim of some nefarious plot his future self had set in motion.

Dooku was silent and he felt Qui-Gon's probing inquiry in the back of his mind. Did he believe his theory to be true? Was she indeed from the future and her hyperdrive had thrown her into the past? He closed his eyes for a second as he thought about it some more. He could not be absolutely certain that it was correct, but everything thus far did not contradict that conclusion.

Nor did the Force.

"I believe it is, but... I would have to meditate on it to be certain and discuss it with the Council," he told her. Padmé looked away and he could sense a wariness towards him where before it had only been fear. _At least she is not afraid of me as much,_ he thought and wondered what it was he would do that would have this woman be afraid of him. _She had accused me of being a Sith. Is this the prediction my master had foretold? That _I_ would be the return of the Sith?_

He shuddered at the thought and his apprentice's concern washed over him. Dooku immediately closed himself up to his padawan. He did not need the boy to feel the dread he felt at the pit of his stomach. He had skirted the edge of darkness before and knew he had it in him, but swore he would not let it tempt him. But knowing what had been said and what was theorized...

"Master?" Qui-Gon stepped in front of his field of vision, his eyes exploring his master's face, searching for what was troubling him and why he was being shut out. What had been said between his master and the woman while he had been checking on her claim? "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Qui-Gon." Dooku ran a hand through his dark hair and glanced at Padmé again. He could see she was lost in thought and could feel her emotions rolling off of her in tremendous waves even though she was doing her best to control them externally. _She has lost everything, not just those on her ship._

He felt pity for her and regretted the way he had treated her from the very beginning. He had assumed the worse and the Force had been telling him he had been right in his assumptions, so he had treated her like a potential enemy rather than the victim she really was.

_/Come, let us leave her to rest and come to terms with what she's just learned,/ _he sent across the bond to his padawan. Qui-Gon nodded and gave her a quick, concerned but wary look before he returned his attention to his master.

_/What about you? You've closed up for some reason. What had been said, Master?/ _The boy was so attuned with the feelings of others around him, that Dooku sometimes wondered if he could ever hide his feelings from the boy.

_/I am fine, Qui-Gon./ _He lied smoothly. Dooku stood again and gave the woman one more glance. "Qui-Gon and I will let you rest, Senator. Should you need anything, let us know." The two Jedi left her alone to her thoughts and the realization that she was quite literally lost.

* * *

Master Dooku sat alone in the shared quarters aboard the consular ship. He could hear Qui-Gon tapping away at a keypad in the next room, hopefully working on his studies and not something else. The Jedi Knight stared at the diplomatic packet in his hands and opened it up, flipping through the flimsisheets slowly and letting his brown gaze scan the words. Nothing stood out to him but he was not surprised. The sentences were scrambled letters and although he thought he recognized a Jedi encryption in them, the small penmanship written over a few of the sentences told him he had been wrong with the cypher and he therefore had no clue as to what was so important that required an encryption.

This Senator Padmé Amidala also seemed to have been in the middle of decrypting the packet for her diplomatic mission when she had her accident, though why a Senator would need an encrypted packet he wasn't certain. The only time he could think of when things like this were kept secret were during times of war. The last war the Republic had with anyone that required such secrecy had been the Sith-Jedi war nearly a thousand years ago. Was a war looming on the horizon? Was he going to start it?

Dooku shuddered at the thought of him leading another Sith-Jedi war in the near future. He wondered what would have happened to him that would have him forsake his masters' teachings and embrace the Darkside of the Force and the Sith ways. _Betrayal_, he thought, the memory of Lorian Nod's double cross still a bitter wound inside him. _It has to be. I must be betrayed again, but by whom or what? How, why, when?_

The only person he was close to right now was his Padawan, but the Jedi could not bring himself to think that Qui-Gon had it in him to betray. The boy was too full of life and compassion to willingly betray another. Although he had only known the boy for six months, he had a feeling that the child had the heart and soul to sacrifice himself for others. _He will make a great Jedi some day._

Dooku shook his head of the thoughts of betrayal and the dark future in store for him. Jedi did not dwell on the 'what if's' and possible futures. As his master Yoda was fond of saying; _'Always in motion the future is.'_ He would meditate and he would discuss what he had found at Yaga Minor with the Jedi Council, that was all he could do about it. Brooding over it would not help him and for all he knew, could lead him to that very future.

_And destroy who I am in the process._

The Jedi Knight tossed the packet behind him and the pages scattered out of the folder loosely onto the bed he sat on. With a wave of his hand, he closed the door to his personal quarters and locked it in place. Certain that he would not be disturbed by anyone any time soon, he positioned himself in his usual cross legged stance on the bed, closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of everything that had recently happened.

Dooku's breathing deepened and slowed, the Force swirling around him in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions and thoughts, and bringing a slight scowl to his face as the calm center eluded him. He took another deep breath and forcibly expelled the turmoil into the Force before he tried again. The second time he was finally able to calm himself enough to grasp the serene center within himself and he felt the Force settle around and through him.

He listened to the flowing eddies, lost in time and his surroundings, yet aware of everything around him. Dooku extended his perception into the Force, searching for the answers that eluded him and felt the calming presence of his Padawan next door, the curious minds of the crew about the mysterious stranger, and finally the strong presence of said person. Her conflicting emotions nearly threw him for a loop and brought him close to losing his meditative focus.

The Jedi sensed her fear and confusion. Despair was lingering just under the surface but there was a determination, a strength of will that kept her together. Dooku could feel the Force flowing around her but was certain she was not the cause for it despite sensing how strong she was in the Force. The eddies he could feel swirling around her presence felt wrong, twisted and polluted with a darkness he had never felt before, but there was a warmth underneath that was very much her.

This melange of the Force pulsated like a neutron star around her and as he probed this anomaly deeper, he felt a coldness settle into his soul. Dooku forced it aside, his strength in the Light stronger as he delved further into the mystery. The further he went, the stronger the icy grip around him became. He could hear the Living Force telling him, screaming at him to retreat, to pull back before it was too late but he did not listen. There was something lingering just on the edge of his perception, something sinister that had wrapped around this woman that he had not sensed before in her presence.

There! He saw it, the source of the vile darkness that pulsated around her and as he was about to reach out and unveil the mystery, he found himself unceremoniously yanked back. _No!_ He tried to fight back, tried to hold onto the dark eddies that he had followed so he could discover what he had almost seen. He lost it, the eddies slipping through his incorporeal grasp as a radiating warmth washed over him, pushing away the darkness that had slowly wrapped around him during his search.

He had not realized how cold he had become while following the string to it's source and when he returned to his senses and reality, a strangled gasp escaped his cold lips.

"Master!" the young voice of his Padawan cried in relief. When had Qui-Gon entered his quarters and why was he staring up at the boy? Dooku realized then that at some point during his meditation he had fallen to the floor, curled into a ball and shivering.

An intense light shone in his eye, forcing him to blink and look away but a powerful grip turned his gaze back and held it open. Qui-Gon was not alone and once he blinked away the light spots, he glared up at the other person.

"Master Dooku, how do you feel?" inquired the crewman he didn't know the name of.

"C... cold." Slowly he sat upright with the help of his padawan, scowling at his own condition and the embarrassment of being found like this. Dooku looked to the boy questioningly. "What happened?"

"I felt something wrong coming from you, Master Dooku. When I entered, I found you on the floor," the soon-to-be elven year old replied. "When I couldn't get you to respond, I called for help." Qui-Gon gestured to the man who was quietly putting away the medical kit he brought.

Qui-Gon's concern for his master came through their training bond with such intensity that Dooku had to reassure him both mentally and verbally just to stop the boy from probing too deeply. The warmth he had felt upon being yanked back from his incorporeal adventure, came from Qui-Gon and the Jedi Knight realized that it had been his padawan that had pulled him back and pushed the cold darkness away.

"Thank you," his voice was strained. How long had he been in meditation and what had exactly happened to him that left him incapacitated in his quarters and alarmed his student so? All he had been doing was simply meditating and following the prodding of the Living Force. Surely what had felt like an out-of-body experience had simply been just a dream or vision?

Hadn't it?

_I need to talk to Master Yoda when we get back._


	8. With Yoda, A Chat You Have

****_Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I had it written but not proof-read, but due to college starting up since the last chapter, I just didn't have the time for my major stories. Anyhow, Master Yoda is a PAIN in the arse to write. Not because of his speech syntax but simply because. Oh and for those who are also reading the Dark Tides story, I have a chapter mostly written and I am working on getting it posted. Hopefully before Christmas.  
_

* * *

**Chapter 7**

_With Yoda, A Chat You Have_

"Believe this, do you, Master Dooku?" inquired the ancient Jedi Master. He was dwarfed by the taller human as they strode through the hallways of the Jedi Temple. Dooku had given his report to the Council an hour prior, explaining everything that had happened at Yaga Minor except his theories as to who or where the woman came from. He doubted the Council would believe him, even he was having difficulty believing it himself.

The diminutive Jedi Master was the only one, aside from Qui-Gon, that he had told the rest of the story to. He knew the master would give him the benefit of doubt and listen.

"Yes, master." He walked behind the shorter Jedi, automatically falling into his place even after six months of being free of having to show such respect to his former master. It was habit and one he intended to break eventually, but right now he simply needed to speak with the wizened troll about what happened and get his advice on the matter. "Unless this is one elaborate plan of the Sith, I do believe that she is from a different time."

He did not say the future, simply because a part of him was uncertain as to how Yoda would respond to such knowledge. To speak with someone from the future and relate from them all that will happen was a opportunity even his master could not say with certainty that he would pass up. Even he wanted to know what Senator Amidala knew!

"Speak to her I will and tell no one else of this, you shall not. Sense a disturbance surrounding her, even from here, I do." Yoda declared. They were rounding a corner where the hall ended in a set of turbolifts. The two Jedi took the one to the left and rode it deeper into the ziggurat as they continued their conversation.

"You sense it too?" Dooku asked. He had been uncertain as to how he would go about mentioning what he had seen in his meditations that apparently had nearly killed him. "A darkness surrounding her, like a shroud trying to smother the light?"

"Hmmm, a darkness I sense, yes," the little master confirmed and looked up at his former pupil. "Sense it in such a way, I do not. More you have to tell on this revelation, do you?"

The turbolift came to a halt and the door slid open with a hiss to let them out. A group of Padawans sidestepped the two Masters and bowed respectively to them in greeting until they had passed.

"After my conclusions as to who she was," Dooku began carefully, as if he was one of the Jedi instructors, "I had taken the time to meditate on the matter. During my meditation I was drawn to her presence in the Force and discovered an unnatural darkness surrounding her that was not a part of her. I did not realize it at the time, but this evil I sensed had drawn me inward and nearly suffocated me. If my Padawan had not sensed my distress and pulled me out of the meditation, I might have been lost."

He paused to look at his master, both Jedi having stopped in the hallway as Master Yoda wore a contemplating look. The little green master simply 'hmmm'd' thoughtfully in reply.

"I... saw something in the darkness before Qui-Gon pulled me back, Master." This he said with a little uncertainty. His exploration of the woman's Force presence had left him unsettled. He had never experienced anything like it before and the fact that he had nearly been killed by it, disturbed him. He hoped his master could shed some light on the matter when he saw the woman for himself.

"And what was seen, Padawan?" Yoda pressed when Dooku had not continued.

"Yellow, sickly eyes hidden by a dark cowl." He watched as the Master's ears flattened back in concern. "From my studies under Master Cerulian's tutelage, the image reminded me of the Sith of old."

"Possible this young woman, with the Sith she is," Yoda conjectured. "Possible still, with the Sith she is not but involved nonetheless. Impossible to be certain with so little knowledge of her."

They stopped just outside of the Healer's Ward, master and Padawan, both a complete contrast of each other. Dooku folded his hands inside the sleeves of his cloak as he looked down at the smaller Jedi.

"Master, what will we do with her?" He was uncertain on how to deal with this intriguing conundrum and one of the reasons why he had sought out his master in the first place.

"Talk to her I will," the short master answered firmly. "Her fate, decided on by the Council it will be. Until then, meditate you should, as to why she is here."

"You think the Force sent her here for a reason?" The young Knight looked to Yoda skeptically. He had not considered the possibility that the Force was involved in this matter and if it was, what purpose did she have here in her past? Dooku swallowed at the thought that perhaps she was here to stop _him_ from turning in the future.

That made her a threat.

"Possible." Yoda quirked his ears forward as he studied his Padawan, sensing the disturbing thoughts from the young man. He reached out to place a clawed hand on the young man's leg. "Know more of her you do." It was not a question.

Dooku blinked and brought his focus back to his master. "I..." He glanced around them to see if they were alone and seeing that the nearest Jedi was well out of earshot, he continued. "There is something I neglected in mentioning..."

Yoda patiently waited for the taller Jedi to tell him. Dooku took another moment to collect his thoughts and overcome the hesitation borne from the knowledge he knew.

When he did, his tone was quiet. "Remember when I described her first conscious encounter with me?" A nod from the little master. "Well... It was not because she had woken up in a strange place with a stranger. She was afraid not of me but because of _me_."

Yoda softly stroked his chin in thought. "Recognized you, she did?"

Dooku nodded silently. "I think she knows Qui-Gon as well, Master. She seemed to calm around him once she realized who he was but every time I interacted with her, she was afraid, though she got better at controlling that fear."

"Know why she fears you, do you?"

The Jedi Knight bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. The memory of the conversation came to his mind and he could easily hear the fear in the woman's words as she accused him of doing something he had not.

"I... think she is from the future, Master," he said finally and his eyes glanced away uncertainly. "She called me a count and accused me of plotting something nefarious against her."

"Hmm." Yoda was quiet and Dooku patiently watched his master think about what he had just been told. "Speak of a relative perhaps, or leave the Order to become a Count you will."

Dooku frowned and then cast his eyes downward. He did not want to mention it but knew if he did not he would follow the same path his future, no, alternate self had walked. "She also called me a Sith Lord, Master."

"Dangerous such knowledge is, my Padawan." Yoda reached out and took the human's hand and Dooku met his saddened gaze. "Cloud your judgment it will. Remember always in motion the future is."

"But this future already happened, who are we to say that it will not again? If I am to leave the Order and fall, I'd rather be locked up in the dungeon or slain now. I do not want that future." He had not realized that his voice had raised with his passionate conviction of wanting to avoid falling. A couple knights and younglings looked in their direction curiously. Dooku felt his Master's clawed hand tightening in a reassuring manner.

"When you fall, catch you I will. Promised this I have, apprentice." The wizened master hobbled forward, taking his Padawan's hand with him and therefore gently urging the young Knight to follow. "Already changed the future she knew, with her presence and knowledge, in motion your future has become. Fall you may still, fall you may not. Your choice, decide you will when that time comes."

"I don't even know when that time is, Master." Dooku's hand slipped from his Master's own as they entered the Healer's Ward. A Jedi Knight by the name of Nass Javè approached them as they entered.

Dooku looked over the Knight he did not recognize and figured he was one of the new Healers. The former Padawan had become quite acquainted with the staff of the Ward over the years as Master Yoda's apprentice, so he knew most of the Healers, some he wished he didn't. As he studied the dark skinned Knight, the man was probably only a few years older than him and wore a warm countenance as he greeted the two Jedi.

Dark calloused hands surprised Dooku when he gripped the man's proffered hand in greeting and he wondered what had made this Jedi turn from a life on the field to that of a healer. Grey eyes radiated the same warmth as the smile he wore, and met Dooku's darker gaze with an intelligence that the younger Knight suspected he might enjoy having a conversation or two or several with this man.

"Master Yoda," greeted the Healer with a slight dip of his head in respect to the venerable master. "Jedi Dooku. The young lady is awake and Padawan Jinn is keeping her company. She is certainly an interesting woman. Strong willed despite her fear, and non-existent."

Master Yoda's cane tapped against the tiled flooring of the Ward as he hobbled along with the two Jedi flanking him on either side. "Explain, you should Master Javè."

Dooku listened to the Healer explain his findings about the woman in his care and when they came to the unit that she presently occupied, he found himself watching through the plexiglass window of her and his Padawan conversing with each other. She was trying her best to stifle the giggles behind a hand after something Qui-Gon must have said having amused her. He smiled softly at the scene before returning his attention to Javè when she seemingly sensed his staring. It unsettled him to meet her gaze and seeing the underlying fear within those dark orbs. A fear directed at him for reasons he had yet to be responsible for.

"I've run the test thrice and there is no record of her DNA in the Republic Census Bureau. She either comes from outside of the Republic or has a questionable background." Javè explained to the diminutive green master. Dooku sensed the Jedi was leaning toward the latter but did not voice his opinions on it simply because he did not have all the information and it would have been erroneous of him to assume otherwise.

Still, the new master could not blame him for reaching such a conclusion. Most people who were not registered with the RCB were criminals or bounty hunters that could afford to have their records erased. "I asked where she was from and she claims to come from Naboo, some backwater isolationist world near Hutt Space, off the Corellian Trade Spine. I have someone making inquiries there but I doubt we will find anything."

"Believe this do you, why?" asked the Grandmaster, his large eyes turning to observe the young woman interacting with his apprentice's Padawan.

Dooku listened carefully as Javè explained. "She is afraid and I sensed she is hiding something."

"Afraid she should be," Yoda clarified and leaned on his cane, his attention on the Healer again. "A stranger in a strange land, she is. Hide many secrets she does, but lie about her homeworld she does not."

"You believe her?" Dooku asked a little dubiously and the small master nodded softly.

"A Republic world, Naboo is," looking up, Yoda answered his Padawan. "No matter which she claims to be from, find no trace of her we shall. Know this she does, therefore no reason to lie. What we do with this knowledge, is what matters. Talk to her I will."

The diminutive master hobbled around his fellow Jedi and with a wave of his hand, the Force coaxed the keypad to open the door with a swoosh of hydraulics. Conversation inside came to a halt as the master entered the room. Two pairs of eyes followed the little green alien as he made his way inside and over to the empty chair on the opposite side of the bed opposed to Qui-Gon. With a little effort and a grunt, Yoda managed to climb into the chair so he could sit at level with the young woman.

"Greetings, Senator Amidala," Master Yoda said with a warm smile. "Travel from far away you have, hmm yes? Older I must have looked, last time we met?"

Padmé Amidala nodded in reply, staring in mild shock and no doubt wondering how much more shock she could take before it became too much. But her shock soon faded to that of relief and a moment later she found her voice. "He is right then... His theory about my accident. He hasn't..."

Master Yoda shook his head, knowing exactly what she was going to say. "Strong headed my padawan is, but yet to come that future does."

"What are we going to do for her, Master Yoda?" inquired Qui-Gon from across the bed, oblivious to what exactly had been exchanged about his master. The small master looked over at the boy and his ears flattened back in thought and half closed his eyes. What were they going to do for her? Could they do anything for her at all?

"Know not what can be done," Yoda answered after a moment. "Unusual this situation is, much caution should be taken. Cause more harm than good we could with this."

"What do you mean?" Padmé asked curiously and dreading the answer at the same time.

"From the future you are," Yoda clarified with a gesture of a pointed claw. "Know much of what is to come you do. Change your history you could, for better or for worse. For yourself and for all."


End file.
